I'll join in here about my lovely game yesterday (futsal so two refs, but "same rules" as my old man used to say...)
Ten mins in and I have to warn the blue coach that he will be ejected if he uses expletives again about myself, my colleague or a decision. Then I pause the game and tell both teams that they need to clean it up or they should expect a lot of cards. Already 6 nasty fouls and lots of niggle. I have very very rarely had to do this - but it was so obvious the players were way too aggressive and messy. White captain went in the book for off the ball hands in the face, blue striker goes in the book for a reckless. White captain is a gobby so and so and walks an extremely fine line. He is repeatedly warned that he is risking a 2nd YC if he blocks a kick on while not respecting the required distance - because I'm a nice guy. Somehow he doesn't block one. Then one of each team go in the book for off the ball handbags. It was blue first and it's blue's 6th foul already and white score the spot kick.
2nd half blue manage to totally take the heat off white by being total morons. GK is warned not to aggressively push opponents out the way at dead balls - does it 20 seconds later and gets YC. Somehow blue are a goal up with 30 seconds to go. Blue GK, def and white attacker all warned to keep it clean at a DFK. Blue clear the ball, still in play, but blue def throws white to the ground in front of me. It's a pen, YC. Easy for me. Blue not happy. Coach stays quiet to avoid ejection. But captain kicks the bench hard close to me. YC has to be. One player is telling me the ball was outside the box so it can't be a pen! As I tell the bench to calm down to avoid further cards another blue accuses me of taking a bribe to fix the result. Oh lord. RC there. Captain and their one fan not happy after the game. I am the worst ref in history etc. Crazy thing is, for me, all straightforward. And they were warned before so many card-KMIs. And my colleague agreed and supported all decisions - a few of the cards were his.
I was still polite after the final whistle. I try not to tell players they have been idiots or played badly. But I just want to scream: how could you be so daft! I this case, all the warnings, and the cards, didn't stop the players. Turns out both teams have plenty of previous. I can't imagine the carnage if we hadn't used the cards from early...